Baltics have long been known as a place where people care about where they are coming from. During my last visit to Estonia, I stayed at a young family in Tartu: Joseph and Kristin (names changed)
Very friendly and nice people. They seemed quite ordinary . They worked like everybody else and lived in a small rental appartement with their daughter. The only thing really odd about them is that
they had won 733 813 Euros in a local lottery. The moment I found out I was astounded- why didn´t they buy a bigger appatement, a nicer car? Why wouldn´t they quit working. But as
Joseph told me- their desires were "not so provincial". It is really funny to hear something so fancy from a guy who has only 9 grades of education. (He also finds it nessesary to lie about
it on his facebook). They didn´t want anybody to know they had won. But back to topic.

The only thing Joseph did after recieving the money was to order a supersize metal thumbtack on the grave of his deceased ancestor Johan.

He was presented a bill of 75 000 euros,

Young Estonian standing proudly in front of his
thumbtackThis webcam photo captures the emotion he had that day. I can only imagine....

„ This is not something I do every day. Johan was a the greatest man related to me and I felt that was something I had to do. Sepcially because he was brought to my attention only recently. It is
not OK not to know your ancestors. This purchase was in a way my redemption. The rest of the money will be spent wisely.“ was Joseph brief about his last purchase.

And it turned out, exept for the grand thumbtack Joseph has not spent a dime of his fortune. Except maybe for the moving costs when he rented a slightly bigger appartement in Estonian capital
Tallinn. (By the way he started to work at a factory there- would you?). According to himself he awaits for the right opportunity to strike. „I´m going to invest when the right opportunity comes
along“ he sais. „And when I do, I´m going to hit it big!“

The moral of the story is that not everybody looks at currency the same way. For some people lots of money means fast cars and a big house. For others (meaning Joseph) it is an opportunity to take
care of the memories of his ancestors and grow even richer. I wish him the best of luck in all aspects of his life. He gave me a lot to think about.